March 17, 2014

Monday Midday Must-Reads (the Malaysia edition)

There's always a lot going on in the airline industry every week, but the story that has captivated most of the world is the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 ten days ago.

The news is changing daily with Malaysian officials often relaying conflicting information with each press conference. Here are the latest articles about the disappearance and how the search is going for the wide-body aircraft.

-Malaysian officials said on Monday that the plane's first officer was the last person to talk to ground control but withdrew the assertion that the radio contact came after the plane's technical communication system was turned off, this New York Times article says.

-The Wall Street Journal looks at the techniques being used to search for the missing airplane in this article. (subscription required)

-This article in Time points out that Malaysian military officials weren't watching its own airspace if the Boeing 777-200 did in fact turn around and fly over the Malaysian peninsula. "The Malaysian military spotted the missing jet passing through three military radars over the country’s far northeast, before it headed out over the Strait of Malacca. But despite its erratic behavior, the American-made F-18s and F-5 fighters on alert at Butterworth Air Force base sat idle. Had the jets been scrambled, the world would have been saved a massive and extraordinary search operation," the article says.